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Acute vs Eccentric - What's the difference?

acute | eccentric |

As a verb acute

is .

As an adjective eccentric is

not at or in the centre; away from the centre.

As a noun eccentric is

one who does not behave like others.

acute

English

Adjective

(en-adj)
  • Urgent.
  • Sensitive.
  • Short, quick, brief.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Philip J. Bushnell
  • , title= Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Surprisingly, this analysis revealed that acute exposure to solvent vapors at concentrations below those associated with long-term effects appears to increase the risk of a fatal automobile accident. Furthermore, this increase in risk is comparable to the risk of death from leukemia after long-term exposure to benzene, another solvent, which has the well-known property of causing this type of cancer.}}
  • (geometry) Of an angle, less than 90 degrees.
  • (geometry) Of a triangle, having all three interior angles measuring less than 90 degrees.
  • (botany, of leaves) With the sides meeting directly to form a pointed acute angle at the apex, base, or both.
  • (medicine) Of an abnormal condition of recent or sudden onset, in contrast to delayed onset; this sense does not imply severity (unlike the common usage).
  • (medicine) Of a short-lived condition, in contrast to a chronic condition; this sense also does not imply severity.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= Katie L. Burke
  • , title= In the News , volume=101, issue=3, page=193, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Bats host many high-profile viruses that can infect humans, including severe acute respiratory syndrome and Ebola. A recent study explored the ecological variables that may contribute to bats’ propensity to harbor such zoonotic diseases by comparing them with another order of common reservoir hosts: rodents.}}
  • (orthography, after a letter) Having an acute accent.
  • High or shrill.
  • an acute tone or accent

    Synonyms

    * (urgent) pressing, urgent, emergent, sudden * (sensitive) intense, powerful, strong, sharp, keen * (quick) fast, rapid * (triangle) acute-angled * (leaf shape) obtuse

    Antonyms

    * (sensitive) dull, witless, obtuse, slow * (angle) obtuse * (quick) slow, leisurely * (triangle) obtuse, obtuse-angled * chronic

    Derived terms

    * acutance * acuity * acute-angled * acute accent * acuteness

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (orthography) An acute accent.
  • The word “cafe” often has an acute over the ‘e’.

    Verb

    (acut)
  • (phonetics) To give an acute sound to.
  • He acutes his rising inflection too much .

    Anagrams

    * ----

    eccentric

    English

    Alternative forms

    * eccentrick (obsolete) * excentric * excentrick (obsolete)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Not at or in the centre; away from the centre.
  • * 2011 , Michael Laver, Ernest Sergenti. Party Competition: An Agent-Based Model , page 125,
  • Strikingly, we see that party births tend systematically to be at policy positions that are significantly more eccentric than those of surviving parties, whatever decision rule these parties use.
  • Not perfectly circular; elliptical.
  • As of 2008, Margaret had the most eccentric orbit of any moon in the solar system, though Nereid's mean eccentricity is greater.
  • Having a different center; not concentric.
  • (of a person) deviating from the norm; behaving unexpectedly or differently.
  • * 1801', Author not named, ''Fyfield (John)'', entry in '''''Eccentric Biography; Or, Sketches of Remarkable Characters, Ancient and Modern , page 127,
  • He was a man of a most eccentric turn of mind, and great singularity of conduct.
  • * 1807', G. H. Wilson (editor), ''The '''Eccentric Mirror , Volume 3, page 17,
  • Such is not the case with Mr. Martin Van Butchell, one of the most eccentric characters to be found in the British metropolis, and a gentleman of indisputable science and abilities, but whose strange humors and extraordinary habits, have rather tended to obscure than to display the talents he possessed.
  • * 1956 , , The City and the Stars , 2012, unnumbered page,
  • Khedron was the only other person in the city who could be called eccentric —and even his eccentricity had been planned by the designers of Diaspar.
  • (physiology, of a motion) Against or in the opposite direction of contraction of a muscle (e.g., such as results from flexion of the lower arm (bending of the elbow joint) by an external force while contracting the triceps and other elbow extensor muscles to control that movement; opening of the jaw while flexing the masseter).
  • Having different goals or motives.
  • * , 1867 , Richard Whately (analysis and notes), James R. Boyd (editor), Essay XI: Wisdom for a Man's Self'', ''Lord Bacon's Essays , page 171,
  • .

    Usage notes

    * . See also (Isometric exercise)

    Synonyms

    * (not at or in the centre) eccentrical, excentrical * (not perfectly circular) eccentrical, excentrical * (having a different centre) eccentrical, excentrical * (deviating from the norm) eccentrical, excentrical, odd, abnormal * (against the contraction of a muscle) * (having different goals or motives) eccentrical, excentrical

    Antonyms

    * (against the contraction of a muscle) concentric

    Derived terms

    * eccentrically

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One who does not behave like others.
  • * 1998 , Michael Gross, Life On The Edge , 2001, page ix,
  • Eccentrics live longer, happier, and healthier lives than conformist normal citizens, according to the neuropsychologist David Weeks.
  • A disk or wheel with its axis off centre, giving a reciprocating motion.
  • * 1840 , Dionysius Lardner, The Steam Engine Explained and Illustrated , page 379,
  • The position of the eccentrics' which is necessary to make the pistons drive the engine forward must be directly the reverse of that which would cause them to drive the engine backwards. To be able, therefore, to reverse the motion of the engine, it would only be necessary to be able to reverse the position of the ' eccentrics , which may be accomplished by either of two expedients.
  • * 1994 , James M. Lattis, Between Copernicus and Galileo: Christoph Clavius and the Collapse of Ptolemaic Cosmology , page 116,
  • Clavius goes on to use the large number of orbs in Fracostoro's theory as another reason to prefer the Ptolemaic system, then couples this issue with that of the relative capacity of the theories to save the phenomena, then finally reiterates the lack (as he sees it) of conflict between the Aristotelian natural philosophy and the eccentrics and epicycles of mathematical astronomy.
  • * 2007 , George Saliba, Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance , page 120,
  • The discussion that revolved around the admissibility of eccentrics' and epicycles lied(sic) at the core of this theoretical discussion, and those who would not allow such concepts took the position that such ' eccentrics and epicycles would then introduce a center of heaviness, other than the Earth, around which celestial simple objects would then move.
  • (slang) A kook.
  • See also

    * acentric